“So?” Lady Ophelia asked, beginning to walk and waiting for him to follow, which he reluctantly did. “Wonderful. So, I have had a long time to think, and I had to see you so that I could tell you how I have been feeling.”
It had always been about how she was feeling, he thought, but he was too kind to say it aloud. Besides, he was far too busy watching Lucien and Lady Jacqueline. In spite of his usual lack of jealousy, he couldn’t help but think they looked good together.
At last, Lady Jacqueline was smiling again and talking away. He was listening to her rather than Lady Ophelia, even if her words were not meant for him, because quite frankly he would rather hear Lady Jacqueline talk about her sister than Lady Ophelia talk about herself.
“As for how I am feeling,” she continued, “I have been quite miserable of late.”
“Yes, quite,” Philip responded absent-mindedly.
“Yes, and my poor mother has been trying with all of her might to find the cause of such an ailment. It has been taking up the majority of her time, and so at last I have had to tell her the truth. It was a difficult confession, I must admit, but now that I have told her, I feel ready to tell you.”
“Yes,” he nodded, his focus entirely on Lady Jacqueline’s hair as it bounced when she walked.
“You see, I truly do regret how we left things. You might think me heartless, but I assure you that it is not the case. In fact, I have thought of you each and every day since, and I would do anything at all to make things right. I was hoping that you might feel the same way, and that we could become friends once more. I truly have missed you, after all. You and I have known one another for so long that I do not know any other way to be.”
“To be sure.”
Lady Jacqueline was now telling Lucien about her passion for music, and so now there would be no way of preventing Philip from listening in. She had not been feigning interest just for him;she truly was passionate, and her face lit up when she discussed it. She truly was a beautiful lady, and he couldn’t imagine someone like her with him at all.
Suddenly, she fell.
Fortunately for her, there was a gentleman beside her that caught her perfectly, putting her back on her feet with ease. Unfortunately, that gentleman had not been Philip, but his good friend instead.
“Oh!” she gasped. “Thank you, my lord. I should have been watching my step.”
“There is no need to thank me, nor to excuse anything. I like that you are passionate about the things that bring you joy. We are similar, in that sense.”
There was that jealousy again, and Philip hated it. He was not a jealous man, not even when he had heard word that Lady Ophelia was once again being courted by another man, but in that moment, it was all that he could feel besides uncertainty.
He had only just come to realize how attracted to her that he was, and suddenly his friend had stepped in and now…
He shrugged it off. He knew that Lady Jacqueline liked him, and she knew that they had a deal. If she wanted to, she could haveleft and yet she hadn’t. She must have liked him too, even simply as a companion. He had to trust her.
“We ought to see if she is alright,” he said quickly, hoping he had not interrupted Lady Ophelia but not giving too much thought to it.
He strode forwards to the two of them, Jacqueline laughing as he approached.
“Lady Jacqueline, are you alright–”
He felt a hand on his arm, firm and tense. He turned to look at Lady Ophelia, who was clinging to him in a strangely possessive way, looking up at him with wide eyes.
He ignored her, turning back to Lady Jacqueline, but she was no longer laughing. She was hardly even smiling. Philip froze. Did she not like the sight of Lady Ophelia on his arm? If that were the case, he could not have her thinking that anything untoward would happen.
“Lady Jacqueline, I–”
“I ought to leave,” she said, a pained smile on her face. “I have left my sister with the dowager duchess, which was terribly rude of me, and I have been away far longer than expected. Thank you for accompanying me.”
It pained Philip that she directed the last part to Lucien and not to him. She left, Lucien on her heels, and asking her if she was feeling unwell.
“Goodness, some ladies can be so dramatic,” Ophelia sighed, her hand still on his arm. “Was I ever like that?”
He did not dignify her with a response. He wanted her gone, back wherever she had come from, and quickly.
“Regardless,” she continued, louder this time. “I am so glad that you return my wishes, and that we can be companions once more.”
Lady Jacqueline turned to face him at this, and he could not at all read her expression before she turned back and walked away.
Philip sighed, concerned that whatever they had shared would be over before it could even properly begin. What he certainly did not like, however, was the sickeningly sweet smile on Lady Ophelia’s face.
